


between the lines

by pourpl



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Canon Compliant, Canon Divergent, M/M, One-Sided Allurance, PINING KEITH, S8 Fix It Fic, happy ending!, hey hey you you i dont like your girlfriend, oblivious lance, slowburn, slowburn-ish, unrequited (?) love, when will i finish this? never
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-22
Updated: 2019-01-21
Packaged: 2019-10-14 06:56:55
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,007
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17503793
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pourpl/pseuds/pourpl
Summary: “Do you really think Allura sees me as an annoying idiot?”The words pull Keith out of a stupor and he’s almost inclined to chuckle before the strained tone breaches his consciousness and delayed understanding washes over him. Lance is not joking around.They meet eyes and Keith wants to melt into the sand, dissipate into the wind, and become one with the stars when he sees the expression plastered on Lance’s face. It’s pained, waiting, vulnerable, unsure. Keith’s fists clench on their own, an impulse to the idea that Allura wouldn’t make sure that Lance didn’t think she felt that way about him. Then again, did Lance know that Keith didn’t feel that way about him?--Lance and Keith have become closer than ever. Keith just wants Lance to be happy, only he can't help but think that he would be happier with him instead of Allura. This causes problems.





	between the lines

**Author's Note:**

> bLAH i wrote this right after i watched s8 and then never looked at it again bc it was another "i have a lot of feelings about the klance scenes and i want tO SCREAM" kind of thing, but im actually so inclined to just write a canon compliant that kind of diverges wherein lance and keith become best friends and keith is just PINING SO HARD AND IT HURTS HIM SO BAD fuck okay we'll see where this goes/if i keep writing but i hope you enjoy. this is all ive written so far, i think it's very cute :) it takes place right after the sunset scene if you couldnt tell

When the sun finally takes refuge behind the hills and the sky dims to a dusty purple, Keith hears Lance yawn. It almost seems like he tries to stifle it, but there’s no use trying to deny that he’s exhausted. Keith rises which in turn pulls Kosmo out of a nap and Lance’s eyes follow him. 

 

“C’mon. Let’s go to bed.” Keith asserts.

 

“It’s fine if you want to stay here longer.” 

 

“No, you’re tired.” 

 

“Yes, but you don’t have to leave with me.” 

 

“Let me walk you back.” 

 

Keith extends a hand to Lance who takes it rather reluctantly. The metal around his shoulders clank as he gets pulled up to eye level with Keith. 

 

“You’re almost as tall as me now.” Lance remarks. 

 

“I’m pretty sure I’m taller than you.” 

 

“No way. I would never allow it.” 

 

Black bows her head and gently places them back to ground level, relinquishing them into twilight. Cicadas have started singing and the landscape is lit up intermittently by fireflies who give out a dull but comforting sense of familiarity. 

 

“It’s so great to be home.” 

 

Keith hums in agreement. 

 

“But now we’re just leaving again.” 

 

They walk without haste, shoes scuffing against the plateau floor. Lance kicks a pebble out in front of them, letting it skid across the ground until they catch up with it again, only to kick it further away. 

 

“I know. We’ll be back soon.” 

 

Lance opens his mouth slightly, but his words are barred by tight lips that come together to conceal his thoughts. 

 

“What?” 

 

“Nothing.” 

 

“No, tell me.” 

 

Lance sighs. “I’m afraid we’re not going to make it back.” 

 

Keith looks at Lance who is worrying his bottom lip with the scrape of teeth. “We’ve made it this far. We’ll come back.” 

 

“I feel like we just got lucky. There were so many close calls, Keith. So many.” 

 

Kosmo jumps in front of them and stops the pebble Lance sent flying with his teeth before batting it out of their path like a kitten. Their pace has slowed almost to a stop, still far out from Atlas. Keith nudges aside a feeling of indulgent victory that he gets to talk to Lance like this. It replaces the deep seeded envy for a moment, before Keith’s eyes drag over Lance’s idiotic date costume and his mouth tastes bitter again. 

 

“Who’s to say the lucky streak will stop now?” 

 

“All known laws of the universe.” 

 

“All known laws of aviation?” 

 

Lance shoves Keith’s shoulder. “The probability of our death is going to catch up with us one way or another.” 

 

“Yeah, when we’re 97 years old and you have 34 kids with Allura.” 

 

“Thirty-four? Kids?” 

 

“55 grandkids too.” 

 

The left corner of Lance’s mouth tweaks upwards. “I haven’t imagined living that long in forever.” 

 

“Well, you better start imagining it. In fact, you better start planning for it. How else will you be able to retire? It’s never too early to start planning.” 

 

“Your incessant monotony only makes the commercial vibe more believable.” 

 

Keith snorts and they start walking again. The bucket dangling from Lance’s fingertips bumps against Keith’s leg. 

 

Taciturnity lulls over them and brings the sounds of the desert into the foreground, something that grounds Keith to an uneasy sense of familiarity, guided by the scent of stale dirt and hot wind that picks up dust and reads as his home. 

 

“Do you really think Allura sees me as an annoying idiot?” 

 

The words pull Keith out of a stupor and he’s almost inclined to chuckle before the strained tone breaches his consciousness and delayed understanding washes over him. Lance is not joking around. 

 

They meet eyes and Keith wants to melt into the sand, dissipate into the wind, and become one with the stars when he sees the expression plastered on Lance’s face. It’s pained, waiting, vulnerable, unsure. Keith’s fists clench on their own, an impulse to the idea that Allura wouldn’t make sure that Lance didn’t think she felt that way about him. Then again, did Lance know that Keith didn’t feel that way about him? 

 

He deflates, pushing it out of his mind. It doesn’t matter, because Lance is with Allura, and she has more of a responsibility to make him feel loved than anyone else. 

 

Then Keith forces that thought out too. There’s no use projecting his superiority complex onto Allura. It was a simple question. He just wishes Lance knew how smart and lovable he truly was. He wishes that he didn’t need to ask Keith, or anyone, for that matter, if he was annoying or stupid. And it was Keith’s fault for implanting that into his head, not that he had meant it. 

 

No, he said it because he was being too obvious. Acting too whipped. He needed to cover up. He used dry humor and teasing to dilute the affection that he could always feel pulsating out of his skin whenever he was around Lance. He covered up his rapid fire heartbeat by making some pass at him, just to distance himself. Self-sabotage. Keith’s favorite. 

 

Like when Lance called Keith “the future” and looked at him with that smile, withering Keith’s lungs and making his knees wobble. Of course he chose Lance, for a thousand reasons, mostly resting on how much he trusted Lance, more than anyone else. But when asked to say why to Lance’s face, his mouth went dry and he spouted out assholish bullshit. Typical.

 

He takes a deep breath. “No, Lance. Now let’s get back. It’s getting cold.” 

 

Keith’s words are too sparse, so he makes up for it with an arm around Lance’s shoulders, pulling them closer and making Keith’s torso shiver. Lance seems to deflate a little and lean into the touch, relaxing a bit. Keith, on the other hand, only tenses at their proximity, heart starting to beat rapidly in the cavern of his chest. 

 

He doesn’t mind though. Not at all. 

 

There would never come a time where he would give up Lance’s comfort for his own.


End file.
